title: Asthma control and concordance of opinions between patients and pulmonologists.
abstract: Patient-physician opinion concordance could play a key role in asthma control. There have been no studies evaluating this association in large samples of patients.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine opinion concordance between asthma patients and their pulmonologists on the impact of the disease and to correlate concordance to asthma control.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a cross-sectional multicentre study including 1160 patients and 300 pulmonologists. Patient-physician concordance rates were assessed by two semi-structured qualitative questionnaires: (1) impact of the disease and (2) treatment satisfaction. Subsequently, participating pulmonologists determined the concordance between their perceptions and their patient's. Sociodemographic and clinical data were recorded for all patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 53.6% of cases, asthma was controlled. The rate of patient-pulmonologist concordance on disease impact on patient daily life was 57%, with physicians underestimating the impact (compared to patients) in 26% of cases. Concordance on satisfaction with treatment was 56%, with physicians underestimating satisfaction in 26% of cases. Patient-physician discordance rates were significantly lower among patients with controlled asthma (29 and 32.1%) than those with poor control (73.7 and 73.1%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient-pulmonologist concordance on perceptions of disease impact is low, particularly in uncontrolled asthma. This poor concordance should be addressed in education programmes, particularly for patients with uncontrolled symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Department, Galdakao Hospital , Vizcaya , Spain .
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Urrutia
authors.forename: Vicente
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Plaza
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pascual
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cisneros
authors.forename: Luis M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Entrenas
authors.forename: María Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Luengo
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Caballero
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D011788:Quality of Life; D013030:Spain